United States History Student Edition

Types of Primary Sources Primary sources can be print materials, images, or objects.

Printed publications include newspapers, magazines, and books. Web sites and e-mails are considered printed publications even though they are in electronic format.

Songs and poems describe events and people’s reactions to the events.

Visual materials include original paintings, drawings, photographs, films, and maps. Political cartoons and other types of cartoons can also be visual primary sources. Oral histories are interviews that are recorded to collect people’s memories and observations about their lives and experiences.

Personal records include autobiographies, journals, and letters.

Artifacts, such as tools, are objects that were used by people in the past.

Analyzing Sources Like a historian, when you read primary or secondary sources, you should ask yourself these questions as you read. • Who created the source? • What was its purpose? For whom was it created? • What is the source about? • Is the source a primary or secondary source? Once historians identify this basic information, they examine the sources to determine if they are credible, or truthful. They must do so because each source reflects a point of view. Evaluating the Credibility of Sources The more times you can answer “yes” to the following questions about a primary or secondary source, the more credible and reliable you may consider the source: • Are statements supported with evidence? • Is the language objective and not emotional? • Can the same information be found in another source? • Does the creator of the source have a reputation for being believable, and does he or she have qualifications that suggest the source is credible? • Does the creator of the source address other viewpoints? • When was the source created? • How was the source created?

Other evidence may appear in documents or written materials that were created during a historical event. Historians use the evidence they read in historical sources to interpret what happened in the past. Primary and Secondary Sources Historians look for clues about the past in primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are firsthand pieces of evidence from people who saw or experienced the events described. Primary sources include written documents, such as letters, diaries, and official records. Literature and artwork from a particular time and place are also primary sources. Spoken interviews and objects such as photos, tools, and clothing are also primary sources. Secondary sources are created by people who were not part of a historical event. The information in secondary sources is partially based on primary sources. Examples of secondary sources include biographies, history books, and textbooks. Historians study secondary sources for background information and for a larger view of an event. A historian must use primary sources, however, to write new history about a subject. primary source firsthand evidence of an event in history secondary source a written work or visual representation created by people who were not part of the historical event

Historian’s Toolkit HT13